anyone a winter rider?

I ride in the winter......


















In a nice warm car. i do ride 4 wheelers in the winter but no street bike once it dips below 40.

Oh yeah!

I don't ride near as much in bitter cold anymore, but I still drag mine out when we get a reasonably temperate day following several dry days.

There are several reasons I cut back some on winter riding. First and foremost is cold/ice/snow (under 40 degrees) just isn't quite the exhilarating joy like it used to be in my youth and I don't shake it off as quickly.

Secondly I don't like getting the Mag-cloride from the roads on the MC or my clothes. Its tough and time consuming to wash the MC after riding and the darn chemical eats everything on the MC. So you HAVE to wash it off immediately.

Last year we had a particular stormy winter and my trucks had ice on them that melted over several warm days. The Mag-Cloride dripped onto my drive, and in the Spring I had maybe a hundred quarter sized blisters/bubbles in my 3year old driveway. Mag-Cloride also has the effect of making roads very slick. Just isn't worth the aggravation, discomfort, and potential risk/cost to get out on bad or chemically treated roads anymore.

I still ride if it’s just cold, but not snowy or icy, if for no other reason than I can harass some Texan or other fair weather rider about it!

AND for Urban Coyote... NO YOU DON'T GET TO COUNT DRIVING IN PHOENIX AS 'WINTER' DRIVING! (you lucky SOB!)

Ride safe & long,
Colorado Fats

Gear does make the difference1

edswimbikerun said:

I ride more out of necessity than anything and it changes your life for sure. I live in Georgia but the temp goes down to the 20's in the am and you just have to buy the right gear and don't have any exposed skin. I suggest as you know by now a great pair of gloves and a winter jump suit. If you can't afford a good one at least go to Wal-Mart and get something to get you by. Stay warm and keep riding!

Click to expand...

I've tried several different approaches to cold weather riding. A snowmobile suit, electrics, Carharts, leathers, thermal undies. But each had some drawback.

The synthetic snowmobile suit worked best until it came into contact with exhaust. Getting the melted material off the exhaust was a real job. I could wear my business clothes under the suit and be ready for work in just minutes.

The electrics made me feel like I needed a NASA team to help me prep to mount and ride my rocket (and I always forgot to unplug the darn things when getting off the MC).

The Carharts were ok, but kinda stiff uncomfortable feeling.

Leathers worked great for short rides but were a nuisance on longer rides, and just never covered al the IMPORTANT parts!

Thermal underwear was great until you went in somewhere for a long time and started to sweat.

Man, when I do ride when very cold now it takes me a long time to warm up, and days to recover from the aches and pains the cold causes in old injuries.

Ride safe & long,
Colorado Fats

Some people really do it!

I got curious about this and took off to see what it was like. Learning process you might say. A high torque street bike that weighs about 600# on street tires probobly should not be your first choice.



I putt-putted around the neighborhood. I was gone about 30 minutes and went no farther than 9 blocks from the house. I have a First Gear insulated riding suit that I really like. When I tour - anywhere - it is packed. I was born and raised in CO so driving in the snow is not new to me. This was like nothing I had ever done. Sometimes it was other times it was and then it would get .



I'm not talking about riding on a wet road while it is snowing (like riding in the rain). I'm talking about packed snow with occasional ice. Whatever control inputs you use have to be gentle. Too much gas or too quick on the gas and you will have a spinning slide. Letting off the gas is about the same as slamming on the back brake - it is going to skid. Same with braking - slam on the brakes and you are going to be skidding. You can see in the pics that it is right on the border of snow and ice.



So basically, whatever you have traditionally done to stay alive while riding with the 'other motorists' is not available, like hard braking, swerving and fast acceleration. I recommend not going faster than you want to crash.

That said, I have heard from a number of people (Canadians and northern tier states) who ride all year/weather (apparently with confidence) riding motorcycles with sidecars, dirt bikes with studded knobbies and street bikes with studded knobbies. So it can be done. But its going to take learning, practice and preparation.

Where I live, it does not snow every year, when it does its usually gone within the same week. So it's not something I would look forward to doing...but it was a fun afternoon! Vision was another problem. Maybe anti-fog would help but my modular faceshield fogged fast - stayed that way; and after I raised it so did my glasses!